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Jan 1, 2011

Happy New Year from Dominica!

After 3 days we finally made it to Dominica, just in time for New Year's Eve. At this point I am too exhausted to explain the intricacies of our 3 days of traveling mishaps, but they involved hours in lines and runways, many re-bookings, and even a night in Puerto Rico. We have spent today sleeping, getting food from the only store in town open on New Year's Day (a little spot called 7-11 -- not the one we know at home -- that is open daily from 7 to 11), buying power at the store (you pre-pay for your power which can also be purchased at 7-11), buying massive bottles of water (we aren't supposed to drink the tap water), eating (we bought fresh eggs at the store -- they pack them up in a plastic bag, so we walked home with a bag full of eggs), practicing turning on the propane tank and lighting the stove with a match (slightly terrifying), sleeping, and unpacking. I feel barely human -- more zombie-like -- and am still in disbelief that we will be spending the next 16 months here in Dominica.

Our apartment is Dominican nice, and the country is incredibly beautiful but incredibly poor. There are paradoxes everywhere, like the beautiful views of mountains and jungle-esque flora and fauna outside of our window, mixed with a front yard filled with trash and construction debris, and a trash pit out back. Portsmouth is like a third-world college town which is a bizarre concept. We also have 3 pet goats that live across the street. We awoke this morning to what sounded like a crying baby outside... but was really just a crazy little goat running up and down the street and making little goat noises. Hilarious.